Supreme Court Should Hear Illegal Detention Case Of Ali Al-Marri

NEW YORK – In its
announcement that material support for terrorism charges were filed against Ali
Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, the Department of Justice today said that its Office of
the Solicitor General will be "moving to dismiss al-Marri's pending litigation
before the U.S. Supreme Court." The American Civil Liberties Union represents
al-Marri in that case, Al-Marri v. Spagone.

Al-Marri is the only individual to be designated an "enemy combatant" by the
Bush administration who is held in military detention on U.S. soil.

The following can be attributed to Jonathan Hafetz, attorney with the ACLU
National Security Project and lead counsel in al-Marri's Supreme Court case:

"The legal issues raised by the Supreme Court case are neither settled nor
rendered moot by today's indictment. We will continue to pursue Mr. al-Marri's
case to make sure that no American citizen or lawful resident will ever again be
imprisoned without charge or trial. It is critical that the Court hears Mr.
al-Marri's case and categorically rejects the notion that any president has the
sweeping authority to deprive individuals living in the United States of their
most basic constitutional rights by designating them 'enemy combatants.'"

Attorneys in Al-Marri v. Spagone are Hafetz, Steven R. Shapiro, Jameel Jaffer
and Hina Shamsi of the ACLU; Andrew J. Savage, III of the law firm Savage &
Savage, P.A.; John J. Gibbons and Lawrence S. Lustberg of the law firm Gibbons,
P.C.; Mark A. Berman of the law firm Hartmann, Doherty, Rosa, Berman &
Bulbulia LLC; Aziz Huq and Emily Berman of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU
School of Law; and Sidney S. Rosdeitcher of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind,
Wharton & Garrison, LLP.